We all love Jiujitsu. That is why we do it, but do you ever notice one big aspect that is very common among many BJJ players? We’re always broke. I often hear people expressing how their bank account always seem to be on the low end. Is there one specific reason for this? I don’t think so, but it is interesting to take a step back and see this dilemma many of us have in common. I am not saying this applies to everyone, nor is it gender specific; however the issue definitely exists .
Jiujitsu is far from cheap. That is, if you’re serious about the sport. If all you do is sign up and buy a gi, and just train here and there, you probably cannot relate to this. If you 
are serious, and BJJ has become a huge(if not complete) part of your life then you know exactly what I am talking about. Every month you have your basic membership fee. This can range depending on the school. Then you have all your gis, rashguards, fightshorts etc. etc. If you’re like me and you’re always buying something new, then you know it is not cheap! Let’s talk about competing. Every single tournament has those wonderful registration fees. Typically they can range from the $80 mark and up. Those seriously add up if you’re an active competitor. Then you have travel expenses for competitions as well as seminars, and on top of that…food! Serious BJJ players buy healthy food because they know a good diet is important to the sport. Health food is always more expensive then junk food and is just another big expense on the list. (This includes proteins, preworkouts etc…..can be pricey!)
Now like I said before everyone is different. It is hard to make ends meet if you’re serious about Jiujitsu. Personally, I made a big change. I was working in the corporate world making decent money; however it took up so much of my time and drained all my energy because of how stressful it was, I never had time to train so I quit! I found a different job that allowed me to train as often as I like, but I had to take a paycut. This made it harder financially, but I truly love the sport so I did not mind. I much rather be able to train and be happy, then make all the money in the world but never have the time to train or be too tired/stressed. There have been many people in a situation similar to mine. Others decide they want to try and make a career out of it, so they may stop going to school and solely train. It is a big risk but when you have a true passion for something, you’re going to do anything you can.
Now there is the whole sponsor aspect of this. Even still, if you are lucky enough to get sponsored they typically hook you up more with material items such as clothing or gear, which is nice but it still doesn’t solve this dilemma. You also have the big competitions that have cash prizes but with all the high level BJJ players being produced it is difficult to win those. So with all this being said, why do we continue to be broke when we could easily just quit and save all this money? All of this does not even cover outside expenses that many have as well. I am sure everyone has a different answer. Mine personally is because money is not important to me and I truly love BJJ and could not imagine my life without it. Is there anything the sport can do to make finances easier? Maybe more tournaments offering more cash prizes? Or will this be a constant factor among the BJJ community?
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